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Friday, March 8, 2013

Sepia Saturday: Scratches and Wrinkles and Tears, Oh My!

Sepia Saturday challenges
bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is a photo of steamers
along a river near Sydney, Australia.
The photo is badly scratched, much like many in my own collection of old
pictures passed down through the family.

Even if scratched or torn, old photos keep alive those
family members we’ve never known. Take
for example this photo of John Joseph Killeen, the first husband of my great
grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh, and father to my sweet
great-aunts that I have written about so often.

John Joseph Killeen
1863 Ireland - 1905 New York

If it weren’t for the brittle yellow tape, one or both pieces
of this cabinet card might have been lost, taking with it one glimpse into my
great grandmother’s past as just a young wife and mother, widowed far too soon
at age 36.

Not wanting Mary Theresa to be lonely, John Killeen’s
family introduced her to John Fleming Walsh who a year later became her second
husband and my great grandfather. Until
a couple months ago, I had never seen a picture of him, nor had my dad seen
pictures. But Daddy said he had always
heard that his grandfather John Walsh was handsome.

My aunt gave me an envelope of old photos to scan. Out of the envelope tumbled two tiny chips of
cardboard, each less than a square inch.
When I pushed them together, I saw my great grandfather for the first
time.

John Fleming Walsh
1868-1918 Portsmouth, Virginia

But I saw
something else too. That cleft in his
chin – my dad and I both inherited that physical trait. Now I know where it came from. Still I’m left to wonder what happened to the
rest of the picture and why this is the only one of him.

To genealogists and family historians, the scratches and wrinkles
don’t decrease the value of those old photos.
But sometimes little hands get in the way, resulting in this:

No doubt this is an autographed photo of SOME baseball player,
one of two Daddy owned (the other is a photo signed in 1941 by Bob Feller, pitcher
for the Cleveland Indians). Who
scratched out the autograph and signed Daddy’s name? Not Daddy. His penmanship was more refined, downright
beautiful with its strong right slant and distinctive lower case “e” resembling
a backwards 3. And Daddy would never
have scribbled a baseball into the pitcher’s glove – how ridiculous is
that?! Obviously the culprit had no
knowledge of the kinesiology of pitching.

I don’t know why we have kept this photo. It certainly wouldn’t fetch anything on eBay,
“Antiques Road Show” or even “Pawn Stars.”
Maybe we hope the picture will offer a glimpse into our past, and that one
day we’ll figure out whether my sister or I engaged in this bit of photo
enhancing activity. (Eh – it was probably my sister. I was always the good one.)

Nice to have these two photographs more or less intact, although the tape is an anathema to conservationists. Difficult to remove now without damaging the photograph, I suppose, but it will eventually cause damage to the photographic emulsion.

What a nice post. It's true that it doesn't matter if these old photos are torn and wrinkled. Especially when they're of a treasured relative. I love it that you finally got to see your grandfather, even tho he was torn in two.Nancy

:) love the story! And what a discovery of your great grandpa's photo. He is handsome indeed. From where I come from people who have a 'divided chin' are treated with so much fascination and fondness. Adding mustaches, crossing out writings or 'deteething' unfortunate some - we also do that. Or they do. I was also always the good one (lol)

One of the things I like about Sepia Saturday is to see the discoveries people make like this, especially as we can find only one photo in our families from before our parents' time. Great to see you have 'found' your great grandfather.

I always admire on Sepia Saturday the inventive way different people interpret the theme, and I enjoyed your original "take" away from away from rivers and boats. The name of your great grandmother is so distinctive - you cannot help but draw stories from it.

Beards seem a popular item to draw on a photo but a ball and a signature now that is inventive, I wonder who is behind the disguise. Those fragments of photos are a wonderful find for remembering their subjects and at least electronically they cannot deteriorate any further.

I'm in full agreement with others about the way the discovery of your very handsome grandfather was made. The first thing I noticed was that chin; I've always had a weakness for dimples, But I have to say I thought the coming together of the two pieces of the crumbkl picture, was quite momentous - almost like a jigsaw being completed, and must have felt very satisfying.

I can totally see some little girls having fun and maybe even some little boys especially if they didn't care for that player. But it almost looks too good like maybe an adult may have drawn the mustache? But gee your grandfather is/was so very handsome indeed! It's too bad how some folks back then didn't have as many photos of themselves taken, but maybe you be lucky to find something about him, from other relatives or ?? It sure is worth the hunt. Especially since you and your father share the cleft together, how cool is that!

It is funny to see that apparently kids all over the world do the same thing when they can lay one hand on a photo and the other holds a pencil. It is equally funny to hear that a cleft goes from generation to generation to generation. It saves you a DNA test.And I happen to see a Dutch surname on the first CdV: Spier.

I think finding the puzzle pieces of your great-grandfather with the cleft in his chin had to be terribly exciting even with the missing pieces. Every time I come across another picture of an ancestor I have never seen before, perhaps supplied by a distant cousin, I am elated!

I have been able to find John Walsh only in the 1910 Portsmouth, VA census where his occupation is ordinance man for the shipyard. However, Daddy said he was a fireman. But when and where, I don't know. This does appear to be a fireman's cap, don't you think?

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net